SIP Calculator
Estimate how much your monthly SIP could grow to. Adjust the amount, expected return and time period to see your maturity value, total invested and estimated returns.
What is a SIP calculator?
A SIP calculator is a simple tool that estimates the future value of a Systematic Investment Plan — a method of investing a fixed amount at regular intervals, usually every month, into a mutual fund or index fund. Instead of timing the market with a single large purchase, you invest steadily, buying more units when prices are low and fewer when prices are high. Over long periods this averages out your purchase cost and lets compounding do the heavy lifting.
Rather than working the maths out by hand, you enter three things — your monthly investment, an expected annual return, and the number of years you plan to stay invested. The calculator instantly shows your projected maturity value, the total amount you will have invested, and the estimated returns earned on top.
How the SIP calculator works
Each monthly contribution is treated as its own small investment that compounds for the remaining months until the end of your time horizon. The first instalment compounds for the full term, the second for one month less, and so on. The calculator adds up the future value of every instalment to arrive at your total corpus.
Because the money is invested monthly, returns are compounded monthly too. That is why a SIP that runs for longer doesn't just grow in a straight line — the curve gets steeper over time as earlier returns start generating their own returns.
- Monthly investment — the fixed amount you contribute every month.
- Expected return — a realistic annual growth rate. Equity funds have historically delivered roughly 10–14% over long periods, though returns are never guaranteed.
- Time period — how many years you keep investing. Longer horizons dramatically increase the share of your corpus that comes from returns rather than contributions.
The SIP formula
MyFundCalculator uses the standard future-value-of-an-annuity formula, with contributions made at the start of each month:
Your total invested is simply P × n, and your estimated returns are the difference between the maturity value and the amount you put in.
A worked example
Suppose you invest 500 a month for 10 years at an expected return of 12% per year. Here is roughly how your money grows:
| Years invested | Total invested | Estimated value |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 6,000 | 6,400 |
| 3 years | 18,000 | 21,700 |
| 5 years | 30,000 | 41,000 |
| 10 years | 60,000 | 116,170 |
| Returns earned | — | +56,170 |
Notice that in year 10, more of your corpus comes from returns than from new contributions. That is the power of compounding — and the reason starting early matters more than investing large amounts later.
What affects your SIP returns
- Time in the market. Doubling your time horizon does far more than doubling your monthly amount, because later years compound on a much larger base.
- Rate of return. Even a 2% difference in annual return compounds into a large gap over 15–20 years. Use a conservative, realistic figure.
- Consistency. Skipping instalments or stopping during market dips removes exactly the cheap units that drive long-term growth.
- Step-up contributions. Increasing your SIP each year as your income grows can significantly raise your final corpus.
SIP vs lumpsum
A SIP spreads your investment over time, which smooths out volatility and removes the pressure of timing the market. A lumpsum invests everything at once and can outperform when markets rise steadily after your entry. Most investors use both: SIPs for regular salary-based investing, and lumpsums for windfalls like a bonus. Compare the two with our Lumpsum Calculator and check the realised growth rate of any investment with the CAGR Calculator.
Popular SIP scenarios
Jump straight to a calculator pre-filled for a common monthly amount or savings goal: